Special Lightning Sailboat

[MM2CVS9]

Got some parts for the standing rigging. Since this is a 1960's era boat, the standing rigging was wire rope. I had experimented with picture frame hanging wire and thought maybe ok. then I found these.
Stainless steel twisted wire that I think looks nicer, and mini turnbuckles - that actually work! This will make it easier to set the mast exactly I think.


The sail material in the kit was a kinda embossed plastic feeling stuff. Quite stiff and I couldn't seem to "bunch" it up to furl the sails. I also got some silkspan. Was told it was used for making sails. The stuff I got was a sheet of "fabric" that looks like very thin filter material. I can see through two layers of it.
Anyone ever use this? How is it used. I was kinda planning to use some very old cotton bedsheet material. The mainsail and jib will be furled. Any suggestions?

 

[Rhino]

How nice is your Wife's favorite pillow case, and will She miss it all that much?
You seem to possess a unique and varied skillset, and my Hat is off to you, EJ. :salute
Lightning is COOL!

 

[moon puppy]

Cant' help you about the sails questions but i do wonder about the working turnbuckles. Are you going to safety wire them in place? The Stainless wire will be hard to work with I think, is it pliable at all?

 

[phantom II]

Once upon a time we used something called silk papper to make kites with .

No idea if it's still available but it would work well for making sails.

How about some of that papper that ladies love to stick in gift bags...? Ithink it's pretty close .

Cheers, Christian B)

 

[MM2CVS9]

The stainless wire is flexible and holds it's shape nicely when bent, actually a bit better than the picture wire. Both wires are formed with 7 strands. The stainless has .0085" strands and makes a .027" wire. The picture wire (I don't know what kind of steel) strands are .0115" and form a .035" wire. I think the stainless (on the left) is smoother, more symmetrical looking. I stripped one strand from the picture wire and used it for the wrapping, but with the stainless I think I'll use the wire as is and wrap with cuttings. I fixed the wrapping with a dab of super glue at the end. Which wire do you think looks more like realistic wire rope used aboard boats and ships? The little turnbuckles, after the wires are set and tensioned, I'll fix in place with a bit of threadlocker, just to be sure they don't move, but still be able to adjust the tension later if necessary.

Still trying to find out about the sails materials.

 

[moon puppy]

Think you're right, the Stainless looks much better. And you know it'll not tarnish! :dance

 

[MM2CVS9]

Holy Cow!
I can't believe it's been nearly 3 years since I worked on this baby.

Way back then I was contacted by the client, asking how I was doing on the model. I had spoken to him about 4 months earlier and reminded him he hadn't paid me anything yet. He promised he would send me something. When he called this time I told him I hadn't done anything on it as I hadn't been paid yet. I told him that now I wanted the full fee in one piece or I would not finish it. He said something about "seeing what he could do". That was 2 years and 3 month's ago, and I have never heard from him since. So much for that.

In the meantime, now we have the stay at home order here in Michigan. I decided to finish up some models that have been sitting there, but which of the 5 should I do? I decided on the sailboat, as it takes up a bunch of real estate.

At some point, something had fallen off a shelf and landed on the boat. It put two sizable cracks in the deck and broke one seat bench. That required some reinforcing, patching, sanding and repainting and clear coating to fix. Got that done. It is now ready for rigging. I also misplaced some of the hardware for the rigging, so I had to source what I wanted to do that. As I'm rigging her in a more modern outfit than what the kit shows, it will have the standing rigging done with wire rope. I found the coil of wire, but needed to source the rest.

I have three sizes of mini turnbuckles,

I'm gonna use the middle one as it sizes out at 1" = 1' as a 9" turnbuckle. They really work too, as you can see.

The screw eyes scale out to be = to 3" eyebolts, the rings as 2 1/4" rings, and the wire as about 5/16' wire rope.

I'll solder the screw eyes and the rings so there will be no gap. Waiting for one more item to show up and I'll get started.

Gene

 

[MM2CVS9]

Got the splash boards done and pre assembled. Added a reinforcing block in the front like I've seen in photos. Then attached the assembly to the deck.

Worked on the mast. Drilled all the holes for eye bolts, rigging runs and the Jack stays and spreader bar.
Bent up the jack stays and installed them, then soldered the joint at the stand off.

Tomorrow I'll make the spreader bar and install it, then start making the ring bolt / turnbuckle assemblies. I'll need 6 of those for the standing rigging that will be done with wire rope.
Then, step the mast and do the standing rigging. I'll not put in any of the deck rings for the running rigging until I get the blocks and rings for that. Should come in the mail by Friday I hope.

Found a couple builds on another site that was done in 2015. Lot's of pictures, both of the build and of the first Lightning sailboat built and now in a museum. Many nice shots of details for hardware and rigging. Some great ideas.

EJ

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Looking good! Also looks like you are over the hump and sliding downhill to the finish line! Keep up the good work EJ!

 

[moon puppy]

Real turnbuckles!!!

Can't tell any damage EJ, looking good.

 

[MM2CVS9]

Not much done today, but a little bit is better than none.

Cut the spreader bar, installed it in the mast and soldered the rings in the ends. Also bent up a wire for the boom link for attaching it to the mast.

I've spent some time studying the rigging diagrams and pictures so I can see it's purpose. I don't want to put screw eyes everywhere before I know what they are for as I see different hardware for standing and running rigging. I've got the plan sheets copied and will color code the lines so I know what purpose each has.

Waiting for some hardware bits I want to do the rigging with. Should have them by Friday.

I did get a new drill set today,

some screw eyes yesterday,

ordered on line.

Tomorrow I should get a storage box for all the metal fittings. I already have one for the brass fittings, and one for rigging line and such, but want one for silver colored fittings too. Like this one.

I got some very nice clamps, but the smaller ones were back ordered

and ordered some spring clamps used for sewing but look handy for modeling as well.

Every day is like Christmas morning.

EJ

 

[moon puppy]

Cool hardware EJ

 

[MM2CVS9]

Started on the standing rigging using the wire rope. Had a learning curve there. Also, don't really know much about rigging sailboats so research was required. The rigging in the instructions is very simplified so some scratch building and imagination was required. I used photos of actual "lightening" sailboats as a reference.

I rigged the jib stay first. Soldered the eyes and rings shut, used one strand of wire to wrap the rope ends, Looked pretty good. Then did the backstay, adding the spreader so it would clear the tiller.

Then things went haywire. I realized I had rigged the jib stay to the wrong point. It should have been attached at the center of the jack stay assembly about where the yolk is. Instead, I had attached it lower down where the spreader bar is. This put the stresses on the mast wrong, causing the mast to bend when the ropes were snugged up. I didn't get a pic of that.

So, disassemble the jib stay, cut new wires and make all the fittings and attachments. Now the stay goes up to the upper attachment point, to a turnbuckle and terminates at the lower attachment point. The first one had the turnbuckle near the bottom forward point on the deck. The sail actually rides up and down on this wire, so the turnbuckle there would have interfered.

Big explanation, lots of work. But, here's where it's at now.

The back-stay spreader assy

The jib stay correctly configured

Back to where I was, but corrected.

It really came together well and the mast is very stable fore to aft. Just like the real thing, the mast is not set solid at the base, it has a pin fitted to a reinforced hole in the deck. The standing rigging holds it there and stabilizes it.

Next, four more wire rigs, the shrouds, two on each side, one to the top of the mast and one to just below the spreader bar. After screwing up the first part, I have enough wire to do the two long ones and one short one, so I had to order more. Comes from BNA Model in Australia, so it might be a few days for that, but I'll get the long ones done at least.

EJ

 

[MM2CVS9]

By the way, the new site looks great!

EJ

 

[moon puppy]

Really nice soldering also EJ, the wire looks great, did you use the turn buckle to tension the line up?

 

[MM2CVS9]

Really nice soldering also EJ, the wire looks great, did you use the turn buckle to tension the line up?

Yes I did. It worked perfectly. I had thought about making my own "looks like" turnbuckles out of fine brass rod and tubing, but the adjust-ability factor of the real thing in mini swayed me in that direction. I'm really glad I did.

EJ

 

[MM2CVS9]

Two topmast shrouds done, one port side, one starboard side. With those little turnbuckles I was able to get the mast perfectly strait and tension the wire nicely. Next the midmast shrouds, but I have to wait for more wire. BNA said it was shipped this morning, whenever that is in Australia. I'll work on some running rigging hardware while I wait.

EJ

 

[moon puppy]

Shapin' up nicely EJ!

 

[MM2CVS9]

Back in April, I cut the wire for the forestay, but installed it in the wrong place. Had to do it over. The piece I installed was too low on the mast therefore, too short. By doing so, the last piece of wire rope was too short to finish up. I ordered more on April 21. Comes from BNA in Australia. Last Tuesday, my order arrived. Shipping from anywhere, let alone from out of the country has been terrible since the virus thing. Anyway, finally, after seven weeks, I can now do the two rear shrouds, then move on to the running rigging.
Geesh. Patience was running thin. I want to get this thing off my bench.

EJ

 

[MM2CVS9]

Since I was a Machinist's mate on an aircraft carrier, I know nothing about anything with sails. The standing rigging was pretty clear, but the running rigging is a mystery to me.
I just got a book - "The small-boat Sailor's Bible" by Hervey Garrett Smith. A paperback published in 1964. This has a wealth of info in it regarding anything that sails from 8' to 35' long. A few diagrams, but I have some diagrams and pictures that are a bit better. The book has much info regarding terminology of parts of boats ( I knew much of that) , sails and rigging (that was my downfall).
Also is a step by step how-to of getting a small sailboat, 16 to 20 footer, underway with explicit explanation of what to do with what rope and when to do it and what it does. All I need to do is become familiar with the terminology and the purpose of - shrouds, stays, halliards, sheets, blocks, beckets, roach, lifts, clews, and on and on. This will be a big help.

Waiting on some cleats. I've started on the boom and mainsail. Will be adding a sail cover to the furled sail. Then add the running rigging for this sail and boom. Then the same for the jib sail. Getting closer now and actually learning something as well. What's not to like?